okay so i've been licensed about 8 months now and i still feel kind of awkward about nets. like i know the basics, you wait for net control to ask for check-ins, you give your callsign, whatever. but theres this local 2m net i've been listening to almost every week and i still havent checked in once because i always second-guess myself on the timing.

like last tuesday net control said something like 'any further check-ins' and i keyed up but then someone else was already talking so i backed off. do i just keep trying or is there some trick to knowing when the frequency is actually clear? i'm running an HT into a jpole in the attic so i dunno if that's part of the problem too. maybe im just not hearing everything they are.

also is it weird to check in and then just say you have no traffic and no announcements? feels kind of pointless but i see people do it all the time

checking in with nothing to say is completely normal and honestly thats kind of the whole point of a lot of these nets — just to know whos around and active. nobody expects you to have traffic every week. net control will just say thanks and move on, no big deal at all.

the timing thing is tricky on FM because you cant always tell if someone else started transmitting at the same time you did. best thing is to just wait like a full second after you think the frequency is clear before you key up. and if you do step on someone by accident just say sorry and let them go first, happens to everyone. the regulars on that net have definitely done it a hundred times themselves they wont think twice about it.

with an HT and an attic jpole you might genuinely be missing some of what net control is hearing from other stations too, so that could explain why it feels like people are talking when you thought there was a gap. might be worth just contacting net control directly off net sometime and explaining you're new, most NCS folks love that and will keep an ear out for you.

yeah i was in the exact same spot like a year ago lol. just do it, worst case you step on someone and say oops. the people running these local nets are usually pretty patient with new folks checking in for the first time. i remember the first time i checked in my voice was all shaky and i forgot to give my grid square when this particular net asks for it and the NCS guy just asked me again real calm like, no big deal.

just jump in next week